


Lepidoptera

by ImaginaryFigment



Series: Love Diseases [2]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Angst, Blood and Gore, Bugs & Insects, Character Death, Emetophobia, Hallucinations, Hanahaki Disease, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Its not really mentioned but it’s a Hope’s Peak au, M/M, Unrequited Love, but with a twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:07:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27243937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaginaryFigment/pseuds/ImaginaryFigment
Summary: It was roughly 3 months after he spoke to Kiyo that it happened. The same horrible sensation, pushing up from his throat and threatening to spill any moment.Hanahaki- but with a twist. A really gorey, gross twist(Please read the warnings in the author’s note!)
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi, Iruma Miu & Oma Kokichi, Oma Kokichi & Saihara Shuichi, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Series: Love Diseases [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000803
Comments: 15
Kudos: 66





	Lepidoptera

**Author's Note:**

> This disease belongs to a friend of mine and me! You’re free to use it if you like but please let me know if you do! I’d love to see it 
> 
> Warnings: blood, gore, emetophobia, vomiting, insects, just a lot of bugs and throwing up in general 
> 
> Lepidoptera Disease: a fictional disease similar to Hanaki disease and caused by unrequited love. Instead of a flower, an insect, typically a butterfly, begins to grow within the victim’s lungs. This leads to vomiting blood and insect parts as the butterfly begins to grow. It leads to death when the fully grown butterfly (significantly larger than a normal one) crawls out of the victim’s throat. If the victim is lucky enough to survive, their throat is irreparably damaged.  
> Side effects include heightened paranoia, pain, vomiting blood, hallucinations and eventual death.  
> There is no way to get rid of Lepidoptera without forcefully removing the butterfly or having Love returned while the insect is still rather small. If the disease progresses too far, it is irreversible

There were few things Kokichi knew for certain but those he did, he knew to be completely true and nearly unshakable. One- Shuichi Saihara would never give him the time of day and thus, any crush on him would be foolish. This was the one Kokichi had to remind himself of the most. Two- Kokichi was an excellent liar. Three- it’s not normal to cough up blood constantly, let alone bug bits. 

He didn’t remember how it had started. He thought he was probably spending too much time in Gonta’s lab. That explained the bugs. Coughing up blood wasn’t normal- but he didn’t know what to do about that. 

So he ignored it. 

He’d spend too many nights locked in his dorm, hunched in the bathroom as blood and insect parts poured from his throat. The whole time, his thoughts would be filled with nothing but Shuichi. How smart and kind the boy was, even if he didn’t like Kokichi. How good he was at his detective work. How his beautiful golden eyes practically glowed, framed by those gorgeously long dark lashes. 

Those thoughts of Shuichi were the only thing keeping Kokichi near sane during those times. Those times when he felt almost like he wasn’t in control of himself, those times when he’d fall asleep, still drenched in blood and bug gore, those times when he was sure he was about to die from how badly it hurt to heave up blood. 

It got worse, after a while. It got _painful._ Almost like something was flying around in his chest, shedding its skin and growing even larger all the time. 

It got worse when he saw Shuichi around Kaede. How happy the Ultimate Detective looked in her presence. How _alive_ he looked. 

It set a pit in Kokichi’s stomach. 

And it always made the vomiting worse. 

Every time he saw the navy-haired boy, he’d feel it pushing up, desperate to escape the confines of his body. It would spill from his mouth, bubbling up from his throat in waves. Waves of hot pink decorated with bits of black. 

He didn’t expect it to kill him. A little pain and vomit _shouldn’t_ kill him. Even if it was really weird. It shouldn’t have killed him. He had done research into it, even asked Korekiyo about it. The Ultimate Anthropologist mentioned something. 

Lepidoptera. 

A _fictional_ disease from some culture he didn’t care to remember. Named for the butterfly it produced, the victim would throw up blood and bug parts, slowly getting worse and worse until they died from it. 

Which made no sense to Kokichi. How could someone die from throwing up a bug? Bugs weren’t that big. He figured he’d survive. Besides, it was a fictional disease anyways. 

It was roughly 3 months after he spoke to Kiyo that it happened. 

He was sitting in the cafeteria with Miu, Rantaro, Tenko, Himiko and Kiibo. They were talking about everything and nothing at all, classes and homework and fake murder plans Kiibo yelled at them for. 

Kokichi happened to lock eyes with Shuichi, both of them staring at each other with surprise. All of a sudden, there was an all too familiar sensation in his throat. 

He felt like he was choking. Kokichi hit Miu’s shoulder, maybe harder than he should have, and jumped up. He hoped he had conveyed his need to leave with his eyes well enough because he didn’t trust himself to open his mouth. Not when he could feel the itch at the back of his throat.

He barely made it into the restroom before it was unbearable. He doubled over, feeling a wracking pain pulse through him. The feeling pushed up his throat. He vomited up blood, a lot of it. Mixed in with the fuchsia were small chunks that Kokichi knew all too well to be small legs or wings or heads. He cried out as he felt a horrid pain in his lungs. The world blinked in and out for a moment. 

When his vision spottily came back, a voice echoed in the room. 

“Pathetic.” Kokichi looked up weakly to see Shuichi glaring down at him. He thought he locked the door. Strange, though. Shuichi was so fuzzy...like he was out of focus. He couldn’t focus on Shuichi. Why couldn’t he focus? “You’re so pathetic, Kokichi.” 

Shuichi squatted down, cupping Kokichi’s jaw and tilting his head up. “Can’t fight back against a silly little bug, hmm? I thought you were better than that. Do you even realise that it’s growing in you? Can you feel it, skitting around in your lungs?” Shuichi’s free hand pushed against Kokichi’s chest. The smaller boy couldn’t deny the strange, painful fluttering he felt underneath Shuichi’s hand. 

He felt the pressure build in his throat again. He still couldn’t focus on Shuichi. He felt like he was losing control. The world blinked...in and out, in and out. The fluttering grew stronger. His head hurt. He blinked. It did nothing to help the vision loss. 

He screamed, rooting his fingers in his hair. He pulled against it, tugging hard enough to rip it out. 

The whole time, Shuichi watched him coldly. Calculatingly. 

All of a sudden, Kokichi violently gagged. He could feel...something coming up. Something pushing up from his throat. Something _worse._

It burned and his throat was coated with the taste of metal. Tears crowded his eyes as his hands helplessly scratched at his Adam’s apple. Even through the skin, he could feel something pushing against the muscles, slowly walking and fighting against him to get out. 

“Shu- help-” Kokichi looked around the room to find that he was alone. Shuichi had simply disappeared, leaving Kokichi alone in the bloody bathroom. 

The thought terrified him. He was alone. It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. Thinking Shuichi was there, cold and rude, ruthlessly attacking him with cruel words- all for the detective to suddenly disappear as though he had never been there in the first place. Kokichi was almost sure he had long since lost his mind. 

The supreme leader’s eyes bugged as two _legs_ padded across the back of his tongue, rooting themselves in the oral muscle and pulling the rest of the body they were attached to upwards. 

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe at all. He desperately sucked in air, hoping against hope that it would let up, that he’d feel oxygen coursing through him. 

When _it_ eventually managed to push itself up from his throat, it crawled out of his mouth and landed on the floor in front of him. Kokichi collapsed next to it, glassy eyes watching the abnormally large pretty blue butterfly stained with pink walk around on the floor as the light drained from them. 

His fingers reached out as if to grasp the creature but fell just short of it. With a final, painful exhale, Kokichi let himself slip away.   
  


***

Shuichi looked up, puzzled. Something pulled at his mind. He glanced back towards the school, not quite sure what he was feeling. All of a sudden, a small purple butterfly landed on his hand. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! As always, please feel free to let me know what you thought or if you have any questions! I always do my best to answer ❤️


End file.
